Orthetrum sabina (Dru.) feeding on the powerful skipper butterfly Caprona ransonnetti potiphera Hewitson in South India (Anisoptera: Libellulidae; Lepidoptera: Hesperiidae)

During a visit to Nadgani Ghat, in the rainforest zone of the South Indian Nilgiri Mountains in October of 1986 1 came across a dragonfly eating the left forewing of the large skipper butterfly Caprona ransonnetti poliphera Hewitson. The dragonfly has kindly been identified as Orthetrum sabina (Dru.) by Stephen Brooks at the British Museum (Natural History). This particular skipper is one of the most powerful and fast flying of all the butterflies in the area and 1 am surprised that such a relatively small dragonfly should have been able to catch and to subdue such a vigorous prey. It is much smaller than Orthetrum austeni (Kirby) which is specialised on butterflies in Nigeria (T.B. LARSEN, 1981, Notul. odonatol. 1: 130-131),